A lot of the integrated systems had lost connections. Email was down, for example. The internet browser just timed out. About the only thing which did work was the stock control.

  “So what do we need from here?” Voice asked from the driving seat, so to speak.

  “I need a ‘teleport core,’ a ‘Plexus power converter,’ and a ComNet ‘antenna.’” I said, looking at my side quests. “The Plexus power converter is specifically stated as being from here.”

  “Ahh, yep, 2-C-1 according to this for the power converter. They had a teleportation core; it was sent to Landing, but it was received from Storage C, which apparently is where they were being stockpiled.”

  “That is east of us,” I said, pulling out the map and laying it on the desk. “It’s a good couple of hours of walking from here…” I’d need to go, but I didn’t think dragging them all with me was fair.

  “There are plenty of things we can do along the way,” Sam said. “These look like they could be good hunting grounds.” He pointed at some of the fields along the way.

  “The ruins with the antenna are closer. I say we go there. Clear the faction quests we picked up in that area, go back and hand them in, then head east,” Voice said, pointing at a road out of Landing. “We can follow that road; looks like a few interesting landmarks along the way.”

  “I do enjoy sightseeing,” Daisy grinned. I beamed at my friends, grateful they were willing to join me.

  “So, we just need to find a way into the warehouse,” I said.

  “I can help with that!” I looked up at Kelsey, who was standing at the door to the office. She pointed down the corridor. “There is an entrance to the warehouse over there that was left propped open.”

  The propped-open door led onto a catwalk above the warehouse. It circled the large room and would allow anyone to observe the people working below. On the far side of the warehouse, I could see the other side of the large shuttered doors, which were part of the loading bay on that side of the building. Several rows of shelving reached from the ground up to the ceiling, a lot of which contained boxes and assortments of other loose components. There were stairs leading down to the ground floor in the corners.

  “We’re looking for 2C1,” I confirmed, as we got to the bottom of the stairs. “I’m assuming that's row two, column C, on the bottom…”

  “Hopefully one isn’t at the top.” Voice agreed.

  “Who labels their shelves from the top down?” I asked with an exasperated sigh. We looked up the shelving unit, the labelled numbers decreasing as it went up.

  “Whoever ran this warehouse,” Voice said dryly.

  “Or the system modified it just to wind you up,” said Kelsey with a wry smile. I eyed her. I was getting sass from a teenager. Could she be right, though? Nah, that’s just paranoia talking.

  Well, it was me who needed the part. I stepped over to one of the ladders which ran up between every other column and started climbing up to the top. I heard the others start poking around in the other items in storage. I turned my focus back on the ladder and made sure I didn’t fall. How embarrassing would it be if my first death came from falling damage in a warehouse…

  Section 1 turned out to be right on the very top of the shelving units. There was a plastic pallet of some kind with a cracked-open crate, which sat on top of it. The crate was half full of toolboxes. There was a recessed handle on each one to make carrying easier. I reached in and pulled one out. It had a label reading ‘Plexus Power Converter, mk2’ and a list of the intended purposes. I found ‘teleporter power conversion’ on that list. I added it to [inventory] and then grabbed a second one just in case.

  I looked around to see if there was anything else. Nothing behind me, but up ahead, there was one of the walkways that crossed over the top of the row of shelves and I figured that might be an easier way than climbing down the ladder.

  On the way, I came across another open crate, this one was labelled Mk5 crowbar. Inside, there were rows of crowbars; four had been removed, but there were at least five more layers of twenty. I grabbed one out. Never know when a crowbar might come in use.

  “Anyone want a crowbar?” I called out to those below. I couldn’t hear the response, so I grabbed them one each, anyway.

  I think this might have been the intended way off the top of the shelving unit. There was a little gate on the walkway's fence.

  I found the four of them staring at a crate when I got down to the ground floor again.

  “Find something useful?” I asked.

  “Shield belts,” Voice said. He had wedged a dagger into the gap and was trying to lever the crate open.

  I offered him one of the crowbars and said, “Try this.” He looked at my offering and a big grin grew on his face. I offered them to the other three while Voice got the lid off the crate. There were three boxes inside the crate. I looked at the packaging and it had the normal sort of corporate sales language on it; Combat Protection Field. We debated briefly, but decided Voice and Daisy were the primary users, and that Sam, as the most likely to be hit, would get the last.

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  Kelsey had disappeared shortly after getting a crowbar from me. Just as we were finishing up with the shield belts, she came back and gave us a bundle of packages each. Oh, clean underwear, nice.

  Voice, ever the voice of reason, suggested we should take some of the underwear for the others. He is a man of great wisdom.

  There were other components and parts, but nothing we thought would be immediately useful, and we knew where to come for things if that changed.

  It turned out the door could be opened from the warehouse side, which made walking back into the entrance foyer a short trip. We returned to the reception desk, closed the door again and then hid the key in the fusebox. Normally, I would have just left it open for other players, but I wasn’t feeling generous to the Overlord bozos.

  That was fortunate, because when we stepped out into the sun, five of them were waiting for us.

  “So you are the cheaters who killed our guild mates!” Declared one of them, wearing a Warden’s set and clearly their leader. “Get ‘em!” and he charged. Voice was in the lead, responded quickly and equipped his shield in time to clash with him.

  Kelsey was next and managed to dodge an arrow. She and a sharpshooter started a ranged duel.

  Sam came after her and charged at the other melee player before he could flank Voice.

  Daisy was ahead of me. She hit Kelsey and Sam with a HOT, and then dropped a heal onto Voice.

  I came out last, having put everything back in the reception desk and made sure we hadn’t left evidence of where to look. I felt a little petty, I admit, and took stock of the situation.

  It was a five-on-five fight. Tank, Healer, three DPS on each side. Their tank was engaging ours. Sam was engaging their melee DPS. Like us, they had two ranged DPS; one was in a dodging battle with Kelsey, the other was targeting Daisy. Her new shield just proc-ed. The two ranged DPS and healer were bunched up, too close for a fireball… but well… I did have another spell. I equipped my Storm staff and sent a spell at the healer.

  Rule one when fighting against another group that was using the holy trinity. Take out the healer first. It was why we gave Daisy the first shield belt; she was our weak link.

  I can respect a smart move when I see one. At first glance, in its travel form looks a lot like . One of the archers stepped into its path to intercept the spell that was aimed at their healer. So he looked surprised when my spell just passed straight through him. Well, briefly, he looked more shocked when it turned into a basketball-sized sphere of plasma and arced lightning into his back and the healer. I shifted the ball slightly away from the intercepting archer to make it close enough to Kelsey’s opponent. She took advantage of the spell's momentary stuns to pepper him with enhanced arrows, which slowed him down, making it even easier to hit him.

  Daisy took advantage of the slight reduction in incoming damage to drop an on their healer. He must have stopped healing the melee on Sam, as the guy called out, “Malis, where's my heals, man?”

  “How is she healing so quickly!” their leader shouted. His own damage on Voice was fading before his eyes. Kelsey’s opponent was the first to go down. The healer soon followed. I let the fade when it was down to the last archer and Kelsey had already half-frozen him. I moved to aid Sam, who, it turned out, didn’t need any. His opponent fell before I got within range.

  “These attacks of theirs are getting quite profitable…” I joked as we got ten gold pieces each from their drops.

  “Even more so, if we can sell their gear as well,” Sam said. We looted a couple of bows, a longsword, a healing wand, and a shield. Side-grades at best. But loot is loot.

  “We might be able to ransom it back to them,” grinned Kelsey.

  We headed south and got off the road before we sat down and meditated. Sam took the first watch and then swapped with Voice once he was fully topped off.

  We did the post-battle review while we walked.

  “What went well?” I asked to start the conversation.

  “Daisy’s healing. Dropping HOTs on Kelsey and Sam, before topping me off. Good shout.” Voice started.

  “Agreed,” Sam concurred. “My opponent wasn’t that good, but he got a couple of lucky blows through, but the next healing tick made it like it hadn’t happened.”

  “The shocks from Aenara’s plasma ball caused them to freeze up for a moment. Easier to hit,” Kelsey added.

  “Yeah and they didn’t even try to get away from it.” I chuckled. “Sam tied up the other melee DPS. Kept him from flanking Voice.”

  “The shield belts,” Daisy put in. “I took no damage and the belt is already back up to full strength. We should try and get more of these.”

  “Ok, could be better if?”

  “I’d equipped my belt.” Voice muttered ruefully.

  “I’d remembered to turn mine on.” Sam shamefully admitted.

  “Wish I’d used Frost Weapon sooner, I think I was reacting to the other archer,” added Kelsey.

  “I should have dodged more,” Daisy said. “I shouldn’t have stood still for that first arrow.”

  “I should have moved to assist Sam sooner. I might not have been able to cast another spell while maintaining that one, but I could still have given the other melee something else to worry about,” I said.

  “Actions for improvement?” I finished.

  “I think we need to practice formations.” Voice said. “Aenara’s suggestion about moving into melee could surprise someone expecting a squishy caster to hide in the rear, but if we aren’t used to it, it could be a double-edged sword.”

  “Might work well in some corridors… We have that sword and board we picked up from our attackers, with a bit of practice, we could form a shield wall. Not something you want to do without practice, though. Easy to foul each other up.” Sam said. “I know Kelsey has done it with family before, so we can demonstrate.”

  “We should consider counters for my spells…” I said. “It won’t be long before other players will have access to Tier Threes.”

  “Other players throwing fireballs at us… Now that’s a worry I didn’t expect to have keeping me up at night.” Kelsey grumbled.

  The road rose over a crest and we found the field ahead of us had interesting-looking plants and some boar-like creatures wandering around it.